Just south of Death Valley, South Carolina
Recently I was in the nearly empty lobby at church and mused out loud to a woman standing nearby, “Why are there so few people in here? With a twinge of impatience, I was emphatically told, “Because there was a football game last night.” I naively queried, “What does a football game on Saturday have to do with coming to church on Sunday?” With an animated response it was suggested that many spectators had become too drunk to remember the game or to come to church. I then mused out loud about there being a potential problem with our priorities. With most indignant tone, my fellow worshipper said, “Give me a break!! I can talk to Jesus any time! Football happens just once in a while.”
It was the following Saturday afternoon about 4 PM on one of those cerulean bonus days in November when being outside is a great delight. While raking the avalanche of leaves that has blown down for weeks now, a great uproar erupted in the neighborhood. In Haiti and other densely populated parts of the world, one is used to hearing life sounds of those living around them - children playing, dishes clinking, axes chopping firewood, sometimes weary people in the midst of domestic battle, portable radios blaring. American suburbs are notoriously silent excepting for those times on weekdays when armies of landscapers bring their trailer loads of machines to mow, chop, trim, and blow over-manicured suburbs back into proper order. Amazed, I realized this unexpected uproar was coming from several houses of armchair spectators glued to their hi-def plasma screens to view the Clemson Virginia game. Obviously, sentinel events had just occurred in the gridiron contest. It seems surreal that suddenly I was hearing this synchronize chorus from places where I’ve never heard anything but lonely barking dogs for years. Is football this profoundly important?
At the nearby stadium, known locally as Death Valley, one can buy a glassed-in skybox for $250,000. This gives one the right to sit in the stadium six or seven times a year. One does not actually own the space; this huge endowment just allows one to avoid sitting with the noisy rabble outside for three hours. My last query revealed parking spaces could be purchased for $26,000. Death Valley’s rated capacity is about 80,301. On some days more than 86,000 have been crammed in. We have never had this kind of standing room crowd in any of our churches. In the 2000 season, 570,542 people packed in to watch seven games. We consider attendance really good if we get 40 people at the 8 AM church service. There were 111,000 in attendance at the Michigan-Ohio State game in Ann Arbor on Saturday night, in a state with depression-level unemployment. The gate receipts for that game were in the millions. Is football this profoundly important?
People will fight hideous traffic for hours before and after a game, being perfectly willing to get home at 1 AM after an evening ESPN contest and post-game gridlock. They don’t seem as willing to make the ten minute drive to church where the parking and concessions are free. My church could easily operate for a year on the same amount of money required just to get a hold of a long-term skybox lease. Is football this profoundly important?
The 80,000 seat Pontiac, Michigan Silverdome stadium was built in 1975 at a cost of $55.7 million and was the largest football stadium in the United States. The long-abandoned stadium that hosted Super Bowl XVII was just sold for $583,000 to a foreign investor. The sale was upheld by a court judge at just one cent on the dollar. Is football this profoundly important?
One of the best selling fiction series in the last twenty years was themed around the so-called Rapture of Christ. Many conservative Christians believe an end-time scenario will include a horrific season of chaos known as the Tribulation. Those without their spiritual affairs in order will be left behind when Christ comes to take his elect to Heaven. It is believed by many that those with their spiritual houses in order will be raptured into Heaven, avoiding the suffering and destruction believed to be part and parcel of the Tribulation. This series of some ten novels known as the Left Behind series depicts the unspeakable angst and challenge arising for those people left behind to live and die in the chaos of the Tribulation. The series became an instant phenomenon with some volumes being published and instantly positioned as the number one seller in the United States. Tim LaHaye galvanized the attention of the Christian world for years with these books. The books now are found in thrift stores for a quarter. Is football this profoundly important?
What if LaHaye and Jenkins are right? What if Jesus actually shows up without a season ticket and gathers up those who are paying attention? If one has any inkling there might be some veracity to the New Testament writings, then consideration ought to be given to things besides whether to go for fourth down and very long. The Apostle Paul, who originally set out to debunk the whole Christian story warned “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.”
Hundreds of thousands of spectators in Michigan spent millions in one day they couldn’t afford, to be entertained at a modern-day gladiatorial contest, oblivious to their own pending financial ruin. More than a billion dollars is transacted on any given autumn Saturday to fill hundreds of stadiums across the nation with millions of fans. Numerous churches will actually reschedule their services to avoid conflict with football games, knowing that they will lose out in a contest of priorities. Is football this profoundly important?
If LaHaye and Jenkins are right, if the apostle Paul is right, I might just not be able to talk to Jesus when ever I want. “For He saith, At an acceptable time I hearkened unto thee, And in a day of salvation did I succor thee: behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” This could be the most important play you ever make in life.
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